Missing Peace: Chapter 13
Crystal Gem Temple, Steven's room:
Steven, The Crystal Gems, Dalton, and Azarov, sat around a small table. Surrounding them was the pleasant pink expanse of clouds that made up Steven's Gem room. After the riot that had taken place yesterday, and the flock of reporters who had now made their way to Beach City following Dalton's speech, they had decided it would be better to hold the meeting indoors. White sat behind Steven, unable to fit her massive body into a place at the table.
Seeing that everyone had got themselves seated, Steven stood up from his seat, and piped up: "Okay everyone. This meeting is to decide how we deal with the 'Facet 31' situation. I know everyone is going to have some thoughts on this, so I hope we can find a solution that works for all of us; on Homeworld, and Earth." Everyone gave a polite nod to the sentiment.
Azarov spoke first. He was speaking In Russian, but those around the table could understand him perfectly, thanks to a small Gem translator on his lapel:
"The way I see it," he said "there are two different decisions to make here: how we act publicly, and how we act privately."
Dalton couldn't help but roll his eyes slightly. Typical Russian. No, typical politician, he corrected himself, remembering that a good few people he knew back home would have focused on the same thing Azarov had.
And he had to admit, Azarov had a point. Dealing with Facet 31 was all well and good, but not if doing so permanently jeopardised relations between Homeworld and Earth, and stirred up more of the sort of prejudice that had led to the riot the day before. If they were able to act in a way that smoothed this issue over in the eyes of the public, and prevented either side from becoming any more distrustful, that would be beneficial.
"I agree", said Pearl, nodding in agreement with Azarov's statement. "Doing anything too major out in the open might cause a panic."
Throughout the time she'd been on Earth, she had been the most reluctant of the Gems to allow the humans to become involved in, or even aware of, the Crystal Gems' activities. Garnet had been a bit disapproving of her distrust of humans, but had largely gone along with her attempts to preserve their secrecy, accepting that public knowledge of the Gems might cause more trouble than it was worth.
Even though the Gems were now out in the open, and she had been opening up to humans a lot in recent months, Pearl still felt that there were some things the human population at large didn't need to know.
"All right, agreed" said Dalton, conceding to the majority. "So, what should our story be?"
All the Gems in the room turned to look at Steven. Dalton had noticed them do this more than once during the first conference. When he had arrived there, he had been told that White was the ruler of Homeworld, and that Garnet the leader of the Crystal Gems, and yet the Gems seemed inclined to defer to Steven for a lot of big decisions. He wondered just how major the boy's role in reforming Homeworld had been, for them all to value his opinion so highly.
Noticing that all eyes were on him, Steven started to speak:
"Well, we need to do something that will reassure the humans that they're gonna be kept safe, but also doesn't makes the Gems in Beach City feel like they're being ganged up on."
"So I assume that sending the Gems back to Homeworld until the crisis is over is out of the question?" asked Azarov.
"YES." Everyone else at the table replied simultaneously. Azarov seemed rattled, probably because White had yelled too, but quickly calmed himself and muttered "Ok then."
"We could ask them to remain in Beach City for the time being." Dalton suggested.
Steven thought for a moment, then replied: "But that would make it seem like we're restricting their freedom. Most of them are Crystal Gems. They literally joined a rebellion to fight for their freedom. It might make it seem like we're no better than the Diamonds were." White looked down at her feet, looking ashamed for a moment, and then nodded at Steven.
I understand that" Dalton countered, "but I don't see that we have much other choice. If they go out beyond Beach City, we can't guarantee their safety. And you can bet that another attack is going to panic them a hell of a lot more than being confined to a city that they've all chosen to live in anyway."
Steven had to admit, Dalton had a point. As long as the humans and Gems were so scared of each other, the best thing to do was to keep them apart until they could calm the situation down; the exception being the citizens of Beach City of course, who had already accepted the Gems.
He looked at each of his Gem friends, who all nodded at him, before turning back to Dalton. "Alright" said Steven. "We'll get the message out to the other Gems once we're done here."
"Good, that just leaves us with the issue of what we're doing behind-the-scenes to counter this 'Facet 31' group." Azarov piped up.
"The Gems and I have an idea for that" said Steven. "We're going to send a small team to Homeworld; just me, Connie, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl, to try to track down Rose Quartz."
Dalton and Azarov were taken aback. Dalton shot back "You can't seriously be suggesting that you're just going to go and find the leader of a terrorist group without any backup!"
Garnet spoke up: "if we bring too many people, especially humans, that's only gonna make the Gems on Homeworld feel more threatened. Rose Quartz might be able to spin it into some sort of attack. We need to be subtle."
"Besides" Steven chimed in, "most of Homeworld still sees me as one of the Diamonds. They'll trust me, right White?" He looked up at her, genuinely not knowing how she was going to answer.
"Yes, I think so" said White. "I've been in contact with Yellow and Blue. They're managing to keep a lid on the tensions on Homeworld for now. A good proportion of the empire will still follow the lead of a Diamond."
"Alright, fine" said Azarov. "And when you find Rose Quartz, I take it you'll neutralise her?"
"No" replied Steven. "I have to believe that there's another way. I have to at least try to convince her that humans aren't a threat. Maybe she just panicked because of your agent, or maybe she was planning this for a long time. I don't know, but I won't learn anything unless I talk to her."
Azarov rolled his eyes, amazed at the boy's naiveté, but he was good enough at reading the room to tell that everyone else was prepared to side with Steven, so he relented. "Fine, get your team ready. I only hope you don't get us all killed."
Steven gave him a confident nod, and stood up from the table. Everyone else followed him, and filed out of the room.
Picking up the phone, he dialled in Connie's number. After only a few weeks back on Earth, they were about to go back to Homeworld…
Author's notes: Alright then. Our heroes are finally taking action. I've been wanting to get to this stage in the story for some time. Feedback as ever is appreciated. I'll see
you in the next chapter!